Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 126

Jiwoo grabbed Kangwoo’s hand with her stiff, trembling fingers.

“What are you talking about?”

“Jiwoo.”

“No. I can’t leave. If that’s what you’re going to do, then I’ll stay here with you…”

But Jiwoo could not finish her sentence. She suddenly hesitated.

One question tightened around her ankle like a chain.

What about my little brother if I stay here?

When their parents passed away, leaving the two siblings behind, Jiwoo had at least been an adult.

Even so, it had taken everything she had, struggling and struggling as a Hunter, just to survive with Heeseong.

But Heeseong was only fourteen now.

Although he had been completely cured, not long ago he had been sick with a rare disease and had spent half his life confined to a hospital.

He was the kind of kid who could barely even prepare a meal properly without his older sister.

If I’m not there…

Her fingers trembled anxiously, and her vision blurred.

Jiwoo looked down at her feet.

The sand carved by their footprints felt like a deep swamp pulling her down.

“This place is like home to me. I can come back soon.”

“…Don’t lie to me. You said it took everything you had to come back.”

If returning from another world were really that easy, the Returnees would never have been treated the way they were.

They were beings everyone looked up to because of their overwhelming power, yet some of them had gone mad from the shock of returning.

Fortunately, Kangwoo was different from them.

‘But there’s no guarantee I’ll be lucky this time, too.’

Worries slowly rose like heat haze.

She wanted to stay with him, but at the same time, the thought of her younger brother being left alone made her shoulders feel unbearably heavy.

The fact that she could not make a decision made her feel guilty toward both of them.

Then, as if trying to comfort Jiwoo, warm fingertips touched her cheek again.

“It’s okay. We’ll definitely meet again.”

Trust me.

There was something about him that made it impossible not to believe his words.

Kangwoo’s touch was warm, and his gaze remained gentle.

Despite the anxiety and guilt that had made her tremble, her heart quickly became calm.

“Jiwoo.”

At his urging, Jiwoo swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

She wanted to show him her usual bright smile, but it was not easy.

Because she was holding back her tears, her brows were tightly furrowed and the corners of her lips trembled.

But Kangwoo smiled brightly, as if that alone was enough.

They were not even given enough time to say goodbye properly.

Judging by the time Shin Woohyuk had mentioned, ten minutes here was equal to one hour outside.

And there was no telling when the flow of time might become distorted again, so they had to return quickly.

Shin Woohyuk disappeared into the portal first to check the situation.

Before following him through, Jiwoo looked at Kangwoo one last time.

“Take this. You’ll need it if you want to come find me again.”

Jiwoo took off the hourglass necklace around her neck and held it out.

Kangwoo moved his dry lips as if he wanted to say something, then bit down hard on his lower lip.

“Kangwoo?”

“No, it’s… something you should keep, Jiwoo.”

He stubbornly refused the necklace Jiwoo was offering.

Instead, with careful hands, he placed it back around Jiwoo’s neck.

His ash-gray hair, dyed red by the hot sunlight, scattered in the wind.

As he fastened the necklace, they were standing only a few inches apart.

Jiwoo reached out and wiped the bloodstain from his pale cheek.

“Don’t be late.”

“Yeah. I won’t.”

“And don’t get hurt when I’m not around.”

It was a pointless thing to worry about.

When Kangwoo had been fighting the monsters moments ago, he had looked completely free, as if he had thrown away every restriction holding him back.

There could not be an enemy here in this other world capable of threatening him while he could freely use his power.

‘Still….’

She could not bring herself to leave.

Her chest felt heavy, as if a huge stone had been tied around her heart.

“I’ll go first. See you later.”

Her voice was half broken, but Jiwoo managed to hold back her tears until the very end.

If she cried here, it would really feel like they were saying goodbye forever.

Jiwoo rubbed the corners of her eyes with her sleeve and bravely took a step forward.

The moment Jiwoo completely disappeared into the light of the portal—

“……”

Kangwoo looked down at his hand, which was still suspended in the air.

At the very end, he had almost reached out and grabbed her.

Even though he knew he must not do it, his reason, telling him he had to let her go, and his emotions, screaming that he wanted to hold her back, had fiercely collided.

‘Come find me again. You have to.’

Just as the desperate urge to grab even the hem of her clothes brought him to his knees, Jiwoo disappeared.

All that remained was a desolate desert without a single blade of grass and the fierce sandstorm raging through it.

As if it had been waiting, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble faintly, and the shapes of monsters appeared in the distance.

It was a good thing for Kangwoo.

He needed to clear his mind, even for a moment, if he wanted to stay sane.

Standing tall on the red desert, Kangwoo slowly raised his sword.

He stared at the approaching monsters with emotionless eyes.

And the endless battle, with no promise of when it would end, began again.

 

 

***

 

 

 

And so, an uncertain wait began for the one who left and the one who remained.

But the reality faced by the one who stayed behind was not easy either.

“Hunter Lee Yeonwoo, I’m here.”

Assigned to a mission to capture a Doppelgänger, Jiwoo put on a vest labeled “Emergency Disaster Response Team.”

Lee Yeonwoo asked from behind her.

“What are you doing after today’s mission? Are you going straight to work at the Void Guild?”

“No, I’m going to rest for a bit. I have a dungeon raid scheduled tonight.”

“Take it easy. You already have plenty of money. What are you planning to spend all that on?”

“You know how many people I have to take care of.”

Three years had passed since Kangwoo left.

Jiwoo had been recruited by the Emergency Disaster Response Team and was working with them.

During the day, she traveled through the city hunting Doppelgängers, and at night, she either rested or hunted monsters inside dungeons.

[A-1 Sector, target has entered.]

[Route blocked. Target is entering A-2 Sector.]

The communicator rang without a break.

Focusing on the target’s movements, Jiwoo sensed that her turn was approaching.

In the distance, she spotted a young woman running through the ruined streets.

“Target spotted. Attempting capture.”

While Jiwoo reported over the radio, the woman entered an alley.

Watching her from the rooftop of a five-story building, Jiwoo lightly landed on the ground and blocked the woman’s path.

“Where are you in such a hurry to get to?”

The quiet greeting marked the beginning of the hunt.

The only difference from before was that this time, the target was not a monster.

It was a Doppelgänger.

Ever since the existence of Doppelgängers was revealed to the world, the situation had grown worse with each passing day.

The government declared war on the Doppelgängers and mobilized Awakened to track them down.

However, by the time of the large-scale Gate incident in Yeouido, countless Doppelgängers had already infiltrated society.

Yeouido in particular, where the incident had begun, had become a completely abandoned city, and Doppelgängers whose identities had been exposed hid there to escape attacks from Hunters.

The city, once full of people and life, was now completely controlled.

All that remained on the streets were abandoned vehicles, destroyed buildings, and clear signs of damage from battles.

Dungeon mutations became more and more frequent, and Gates appearing without warning had become an everyday occurrence.

Because it was a worldwide phenomenon, countries around the world established emergency response systems.

Among them, South Korea, the first country to face the disaster, had developed a response that was nearly flawless.

The government strictly controlled people’s movements and distributed manuals for safe zones where dungeon mutations did not occur.

Seoul had lost its ability to function as a capital, and nearly 99 percent of its population had moved their lives to safe zones.

The only people left in Seoul now were Hunters who had to respond to Gates immediately.

‘Ah, I’m tired.’

She had already dealt with three reported Doppelgängers today alone.

She desperately wanted to rest, but today she absolutely had to stop by home.

Even though they had stayed in contact, it had already been more than two months since she had last seen her younger brother’s face.

Ever since joining the Emergency Disaster Response Team, her daily life had become so busy that she barely had time to breathe.

She rarely had time to visit the safe zone anymore, and naturally, she had ended up leaving everything to Heeseong and Dongsik.

After work, Jiwoo returned to her apartment and immediately headed for the safe zone.

“Noona, watch your step there!”